Man accused of bilking his hearing aid customers arrested

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HILLSBORO, Ore. – A Hillsboro man who claimed to be a hearing aid specialist has been arrested.

Roy Taber is accused of taking thousands of dollars from customers, and investigators think there may be more victims across the Portland area.

It is not the first time he has been arrested for the same thing. Taber was arrested last year in Bellevue, Wash. In some cases, people say he put old hearing aids into new cases, sold them for thousands of dollars and refused to give people’s money back when they didn’t work.

Investigators say they know of at least 10 victims in Oregon and Washington. They are older people often in their 80s or 90s who paid him a lot of money for help.

Bill Noll of Hillsboro is 83. He and his wife, Jill, say they gave Taber $4,200 for Bill's hearing aids. But they were so bad, they were actually painful to use. But they say when they tried to get their payment refunded, Taber disappeared and so did their money.

"He should be held accountable," said Jill. "I don't know that we'll get our money back. Hopefully, they can prosecute him so he can stop doing this to other people."

A license is required to sell hearing aids in Oregon. Taber had one but it was revoked last year after a number of complaints. The state fined him about $3,500.

Taber is now out of jail.

People who were at his house Wednesday said he was not home. KATU News has yet to hear from him.

Hillsboro police are working on the case and would like to hear from anyone who has had hearing aid dealings with Taber.